Lollapalooza Bike Rental Specials!

The best way to get to and from the Lollapalooza Music Festival and all of the official aftershows is by bike. Jump on your bike, ride down to the festival, park it at the complimentary bicycle valet at the Southeast Corner of Lakeshore and Monroe courtesy of our friends from the Active Transportation Alliance. This year we’ve put together an extra special bike rental deal for all Lollapalooza attendees!

We asked our tour guides “What is it like to be a tour guide in Chicago?” and this is the first of many candid responses we received:

“Being a tour guide is like a recurring show-and-tell for adults. I get to re-live that excitement I had bringing my favorite rock or favorite song to elementary school and having my 2 minutes of sharing glory. As a tour guide, it’s a pretty similar experience: I get to show people all of my favorite parts of Chicago on our mini adventure. As a super-fan of the city and an amateur history buff, being a tour guide is one of the best jobs I’ve ever had.

No matter who is on the tour, it’s great to see the reactions on people’s faces change as they start to fall more in love with the city as the tour continues. Many people enjoy our tours from all areas of the globe and also from our own backyard. Groups can range from a mini-United Nations to people that I grew up close to in the suburbs. When we first go out, I make sure we take time to introduce ourselves and where we are from. This creates a friendship between everyone so we all don’t feel like strangers riding around together.

I am a performer, and recently at the end of some of my tours I took time to advertise a cabaret show I had coming up with my girlfriend at a great spot in the city. On the last night of a two-day run of the show I actually had a family from a tour the week before in the audience. It was quite a joy see them there! Sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye because you feel like hanging out with your new friends more, so it was nice to have a little reunion at the cabaret.

If I had known how much I would enjoy being a tour guide, I feel like I would have done it years ago. Taking tours in Chicago is a great way to become acquainted with the city, enjoy being outside on something familiar (a bike) or something probably new (a segway), and get an insider connection with great places to eat or attractions to go see.”

The city of Chicago bike sharing program launched today at several stations around the downtown area.

There has been a lot of confusion regarding the costs for non-members to use the bikes.

The kiosk says “$7 for 24 hours*” the “*” is the key point of this as the $7 only covers the first 30 minutes of each trip. $7 may seem like a reasonable deal at first glance, what you’ll quickly realize is that for longer, recreational rides, Bike and Roll Chicago is your top choice for price, bicycle selection, locks (so you can stop and check out the sites), helmets, kids seats, advanced reservations and more.

Check out this convenient chart we put together to compare the costs of the Chicago bike share kiosk bike rental vs. a bicycle rental with Bike and Roll Chicago. As you can see a full-day (8 hour) bicycle rental from the bike sharing kiosk will cost you $119, whereas with Bike and Roll Chicago that same full-day bike rental will cost youonly $32 – that’s a savings of $77!

Refreshments to be served

I will never forget the first time I was on a Segway Tour, zipping around Buckingham Fountain at night. The yellow, red and blue lights lit up various nuances of the fountain as I had an in-motion panoramic view. It won’t take long for one to realize the amazing qualities of a Segway, and while they may look silly (and I’ve Segway’d by my fair share of chuckles and grimaces), there is so much ground that can be covered and they’re incredibly fun! The Skyscraper Architectural Segway Tour of Chicago is one that particularly covers a lot of ground, not just geographically, but historically and culturally too.

We begin on the Chicago River, and while learning about incredible buildings like Marina City and the Intercontinental, we are also able to see the subtle things that make Chicago great– our beautiful river walk, various kinds of public art, little juice or coffee huts, kayaks along the river. The list goes on. Chicago is as beautiful as it ever has been, and with a venue like that we are able to delve into its rich history and culture. We then connect with Lake Michigan, where we are smack dab in between the vast body of water and some of the tallest, most beautiful buildings in not just the country, but worldwide.

The rest equates to ‘seeing is believing.’ Chicago has so much to offer and the Skyscraper Tour will seriously show you that. I am on tours daily and the city still manages to amaze me with its beauty and back story. And every day that I am on a tour, I can see that it’s not just me, others from all over the globe are amazed as well. So if you have giggled or shrugged your brows perplexed seeing a line ofSegways pass by you, it is only until you hop on one, and I promise you will be amazed too!

The easiest & fastest way to get to and from the Lollapalooza Music Festival and all of the officialaftershows and hotels is by bike. Jump on your bike, ride down to the festival, & then head out to your next destination after the show.

ALL bike rentals are all-inclusive and include: bicycle lock, riding map, & a helmet. This year you can use the U-Lock included with all Bike and Roll Chicago rentals to lock-up to the bike racks located next to the Lollapalooza Box Office on Columbus Drive between Congress and Balbo. You can also download the Chicago bike map here.

When I learn that someone is new to Chicago and has a few days – or even just a few hours to kill – my first question is: what have you got planned? Often the reply comes back: We’re going to the Shedd Aquarium, Art Institute, Navy Pier, shopping on the Mag Mile, Cubs game, etc. All fine activities if you’ve never been to Chicago. Then I ask another question: Do you plan on getting out to the neighborhoods? And just as often I get a puzzled look – the NEIGHBORHOODS?

So many people visit Chicago but never stray far from Loop area. I find myself cluing people in to the fact that the neighborhoods offer just as much as downtown – it’s where we live, work and play! That’s why I’m always excited to show people my home town the best way I know how – on a bike.

Setting out from Navy Pier and riding north along the lakefront bike trail, we visit the Gold Coast. As we leave the hustle and bustle of downtown behind us, high rises give way to tree-lined streets. Here can be seen some of the most expensive real estate in the city. The neighborhood boasts a number of mansions that date to the end of the 19th century as Potter Palmer developed the area after the Chicago Fire of 1871.

Continuing north we enter the Old Town Triangle. The area originally played host to German immigrants throughout the second half of the 19th century with many buildings looking as though they were plucked from small German villages. It is here that one can view one of the few surviving structures of the Chicago Fire – St. Michael’s Church.

Next stop is Italian ice at Annette’s in Lincoln Park. Around the corner from De Paul University, this little gem has perhaps the best Italian ice in the city. Sporting flavors like blood orange and lychee, there’s something for everyone!

Perhaps my personal favorite portion of the tour occurs after our stop at Annette’s as we ride through Lincoln Park. Taking a meandering course, we make our way through the quiet, tree-lined streets enjoying a slower pace perfect for appreciating beautiful homes, old and new, and the many parks before circling back to Wells street.

As we head back downtown, riders are given unrivaled views of the city that’s made Chicago a Mecca for Architecture aficionados for the past century. As the city looms overhead, it’s hard to imagine that the city was founded in 1833 with only 200 residents.

Finally, we cruise along the River Walk almost at water-level passing some of the most iconic structures in Chicago like the Trump Tower and the Wrigley Building before returning to Navy Pier.

Whether you’re a life-long Chicagoan or a new arrival to the 2nd City, our neighborhood tour will give you a new appreciation of this amazing town and its neighborhoods. See you soon!

I love waking up in the morning, drinking a piping hot cup of coffee, and greeting the day. Mornings in Chicago are lovely; the cool air wafts off the lake over empty sidewalks while the citizens who usually grace the city streets are just waking up. That’s what makes the Sunrise Segway Tour so unique – you can glide along the lake and spend some real quality time with Chicago before the rest of the world catches up to you.

On this tour, we glide along Chicago’s majestic lakefront all the while learning some fascinating stories of Chicago’s history. And before you know it, it’s 8am-time for the majestic Buckingham Fountain to turn on. We watch as water swells over her three tiers of pink marble and shoots into the sky. But this tour is so much more than that. In just two short hours you really have the opportunity to learn so much of what makes Chicago great.

There’s really nothing like starting the day with a Segway tour. It’s peaceful and serene, yet fun and exciting. I love this tour, and I know if you try it, you’ll love it too. I look forward to spending the morning with you.